Vanguard
by RYNO IV
Summary: Hunters and Huntresses are the most efficient and brutal way to remove Grimm infestations. But what happens when they are unable to reach the mission area, or someone is unable to pay? Enter the Vanguardsmen, pilots able to remotely sync their thoughts and movements to a high-tech combat droid. One such pilot is Fuyu Schnee, sister to a certain heiress...
1. Prologue - Departures

_Alright, I originally planned this as a one-shot, but due to having too much free time, lack of info on Weiss's family and finishing up Guilty Crown, it morphed into this. I'm seriously considering continuing this, so if you guys have any suggestions, I'm listening. If not, it works as a standalone piece... with a plot hole bigger than the likes of Evangelion. Anyways, peace out!_

_-RYNO_

* * *

Prologue - Departures

* * *

Goodbye. That was her final word to him. Yet as she disappeared into the red haze of the Forever Fall, Adam's mission wasn't finished. Not yet.

* * *

"**Goodbye."**

As the engine of the train pulled away, Adam Taurus was silent. He had the Dust. His enemies were destroyed. The Spider Droid was lost to oblivion. And yet, as his unpowered half of the train slowed, he had an unidentifiable feeling in his chest. Blake pulled away, obscured more and more by the red leaves of the Forever Fall until she vanished altogether along with the crew… those who she would abandon him to save.

He gritted his teeth, suddenly seething with anger. With a feral yell he ripped Wilt out of its sheath and slashed a nearby crate in half, spilling Dust powder all over the deck, and idly watched as the precious substance was carried away by the wind. Adam's sudden fury just as suddenly faded away, replaced by… something else. What was it?

Only the wind answered – he was alone on that forsaken half of a train with only the billowing leaves and corpses of AK-130 droids to keep him company. And the Dust.

Adam took a breath, pushing Blake from his mind. He still had a job to do.

Pulling a radio from his belt, he looked around at the trees rushing by him as he said, "This is Adam. The job is complete."

"_Very good. There were no complications, yes?"_

"Correct. The pick-up can proceed as planned."

He settled down and sat on the edge of the car, staring at the ground as the car rattled and cradling his weapons against his shoulder. Slowly, almost imperceptibly it slowed, letting Adam drift off into a meditative trance as he waited. Nearly ten minutes had passed before the car finally came to a halt… but that wasn't what shook him from his daze.

Adam frowned from beneath his mask. What was it was shook him to the point he snapped from his meditative state? Even Blake couldn't do that, and she meditated even more than him.

At this, Adam frowned as the unknown feeling filled him once more, and once more he pushed her out of his mind.

_She's dead,_ he schooled himself. _The moment she left she was dead. Gone. End of story._

He took a breath and got to his feet, staring at the forest around him. Blake was gone – what mattered now was the uneasiness he felt. What was it that shook him from his meditation? And not just that, but his sixth sense was tingling, trying to tell him something was coming.

So far, it hadn't let him down.

He let out a long breath and set his hand on Wilt, prepared to draw at a moment's notice. And that's when he heard it, a dull boom in the distance. Adam stiffened, tightening his grip on Wilt. Would they really use artillery on their own Dust? Then again, this was the Schnee Dust Company, he wouldn't be surprised if they fired on a crowd if it meant protecting their precious money from the White Fang.

With that sardonic thought Adam looked from side to side, watching the forest with an unflinching gaze, waiting for the telltale screech of bombs being dropping on him. But there was nothing, nothing but the cool wind, billowing leaves, and the red forest around him. One thing was for certain, however – each boom was closer than the last. Something was coming.

Adam cracked his neck.

Another boom ripped through the forest. This one was closer than ever, seemingly right above his-

With a growl Adam looked up, only to see a yellow flare rip through the clouds and streak directly for him. He leapt back not a moment too soon – the flare plunged into the train car right where he was standing, making several of the Dust crates explode in blue, red, and yellow bursts of fire. Adam was silent as he was flung back and slammed into the train car he was flung out of by the Spider Droid, though he let out a groan as he collapsed into a crouch.

Adam eyed his assailant, a bulky, football-shaped pod with angular corners and completely black, save for the Schnee Dust Company insignia on its side. It speared through the train car like a hot knife through butter, pinning the rest of the train to the track. In one way or another, the Dust car wasn't going anywhere.

Adam scowled and ignored the pain in his chest as he breathed. "Reinforcments."

"_Of course, Faunus. Were you really that arrogant to think that we wouldn't protect our assets with more than just droids?"_

He scowled at the haughty female voice echoing from the drop pod. It gave him heartburn and a bad taste in his mouth, and only a Schnee could do that so easily.

"Schnee," he spat, setting a hand on Wilt. "Which one are you? The princess? The old goat, which one are you?!"

The voice chuckled, echoing from the drop pod. _"Neither. I'm the other princess."_

The drop pod blew apart, obscuring everything in a cloud of smoke. Adam squinted and struggled to see through the haze, but all he could see was the shadowy frame of the drop pod and a human silhouette. It was getting closer.

Adam ducked, feeling the wind of a blade passing over his exposed neck. He instinctively drew Wilt and slashed at the shadow, jumping by it and out of the smoke cloud to escape. Breath hissed through his teeth as he sheathed his blade once more, coiling his body to strike again.

"_Not bad. That little quick draw trick won't save you, however."_

The shadow stepped from the smoke, revealing an AK-130 droid as it swaggered towards him. Yet as he looked at it, it was different from the droids he slaughtered with Blake – it was black, with red highlights and a pair of oversized thrusters on its shoulders. Blades extended from its elbows and its armor was even thicker than the other droids he demolished. A long scratch marred its chest, the only evidence that he had attacked it.

"_Meet the AK-130B,"_ the voice said. Adam could hear the glee in her voice as she continued, _"This one isn't like the garbage you slaughtered in the train… though if you had waited ten minutes I wouldn't even be having to use this one. It's still garbage compared to my White Glint, so thanks for that, Faunus."_

Adam smirked at the sarcasm dripping from the woman's voice and stepped towards the droid. "Of course. I'm always happy to be a thorn in a Schnee's side."

He leapt at the droid and pulled the trigger on Blush, sending Wilt flying at the AK's faceplate. The droid smacked it aside and slashed at Adam when he came close, which Adam ducked under and fired at the robot's back as he ran by. The woman growled as he snatched his abandoned blade from the deck and slid it back in his sheath.

The droid turned towards Adam, it's right arm sliding back as it morphed into a small minigun. _"You're persistent, I'll give you that."_

The AK rushed at Adam, firing it's minigun. Adam swatted the bullets with Wilt and fired at the droid with Blush, hitting its knees to make it stumble. As it fell towards him, Adam slashed at the AK's throat and stepped behind it, giving another slash to its shoulders as it pitched forward with a dull clank.

Adam smirked and sheathed Wilt. "You weren't so tough, Schnee."

With that he turned from his opponent.

It was something he shouldn't have done.

His sixth sense screamed at him as Adam leapt to the side, letting a black and red blur shoot by him and slash apart a Dust crate. He frowned as the AK, though sparking from its wounds, seeming perfectly fine as it flung bits of crate to the side as it turned to face him.

The Schnee piloting the droid chuckled_. "You have the luck of the devil. If those 130's had been connected to real pilots, you and your little girlfriend wouldn't have made it out of that train car alive. I might've been persuaded to just take you prisoner and give you nice, cushy cell to spend the rest of you miserable life in as a reward. But now you've pissed me off. Now the only way you're getting out of this is in pieces!"_

The AK switched its other arm to a minigun and blasted at Adam, laying down a wall of bullets that made Adam duck out of the way and take cover inside the train car. As her enraged scream echoed in the background, Adam took the radio from his belt.

"We have a problem," he said.

"_What kind of problem? Can it be dealt with?"_

Adam peeked out at the droid, only to duck back in when Dust bullets ripped way too close to his face for comfort. "I have an angry Schnee piloting a Vanguard-equipped droid."

The radio was silent.

"Of course it can be dealt with."

"_Good. We'll be ready to take her down if necessary."_

Adam flung the radio aside a took a deep breath, hand clenched around Wilt… and then he moved, diving straight into the wall of bullets as he sprinted straight for the AK. The Schnee grunted in shock and ducked under his slash, only to be kneed and shot in the face by Blush and the arms hacked into with Wilt. She yelped as she was flung back into a Dust crate, the droid's minigun arms ruined and smoking.

The Schnee shook her head, making the droid stand with a creaking of metal parts. _"I am the lieutenant of the Vanguard Corps," _she said. _"I am the best Vanguard system pilot in my father's entire company… do you really think I'll be defeated by some Faunus degenerate like you?!"_

Blades extended from the AK's arms, making Adam drop into a fighting stance with his hand on Wilt. However, nothing could prepare him for the droid rocketing forward on its shoulder thrusters. She was on him in a second, arms slashing, driving him back in a flurry of strikes and a furious scream. He grunted when he was thrust aside by an elbow strike and slashed Wilt under the AK's armpit, only to have the Schnee kick him away and smash into a tree.

As the dust settled the AK hopped off the train car, walking towards him in a cocky swagger as a manic giggle echoed from the droid's loudspeakers.

"_C'mon, is that all you've got?"_ she asked mockingly_. "Seems to me that battling a Faunus isn't what it's all cracked up to be. What, did someone neuter you?"_

Adam's head swam, barely registering as he was hefted up by his neck. He suddenly snapped to and was staring at the cold, lifeless face of the AK-130B droid, piloted by a cold, merciless Schnee somewhere far away from him. As the fist tightened around his neck, he felt a strange peace settle in his chest. Maybe it would be nice to close his eyes, and let the peace take him somewhere far, far away…

"_Goodbye, Faunus."_

Then he frowned. This wasn't peace. Not at all.

This was resignation.

He tightened his grip on Wilt and Blush, catching them before they fell from his grip. Adam grunted as he stabbed the arm clenched around his neck and fired pointblank at the droid's faceplate over and over until the metal broke under the onslaught. The Schnee screamed in pain and dropped Adam, the droid holding the right side of its face as it trembled and fell to its knees, while Adam managed to stand on his shaky legs.

The right arm was ruined and smoking. Useless. And with Adam's limited understanding of the Schnee Dust Company's Vanguard system, the pilot controlling to droid would be injured as well.

He smirked as he saw the droid tremble. Though the Schnee may have been miles away he could still kill her. Of all the things he knew of the Vanguard system, that was its major flaw.

Adam set the tip of Wilt under the droid's chin, forcing the Schnee to look at him in the eyes. A sadistic sense of triumph flowed through him as he heard the Schnee's pained whimpers.

"_W-wait, please…"_

His gaze hardened.

"And now, you die."

He thrust.

The droid shut down a second later, the tip barely piercing the droid's armor before it went slack and collapsed in a heap of metal.

A long silence passed as Adam stared at Wilt, speared through the droid's neck all the way to the hilt. Fat lot of good it did if the Schnee escaped. He sighed, and ripped Wilt out of the droid with enough force to tear off its head with a metallic screech.

"Still," he said with a smirk, "I probably did damage her."

As a White Fang Bullhead screamed out of the clouds and settled into a low hover above the Dust car, Adam kicked at the head of the droid. The right side of its face, mostly where the eye would be, was a smoking, smoldering mess.

Miles away, safe in the Schnee Company tower, a woman named Fuyu Schnee screamed as she clutched at the ruin of her right eye.


	2. Chapter One - Emergence

_Yo! It seems I am continuing this thing. Before we go into it, I need to clarify a couple things - I am borrowing elements from an anime called Guilty Crown and from a video game series called Armored Core. Specifically, the remote piloting from the anime and several mechs from the game. The mechs in question, so far, are the Sunshine and White Glint mechs, though the White Glint will be coming up in a later chapter._

_Anyway, that's all. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.  
_

_-RYNO_

_I do not own RWBY, Guilty Crown or Armored Core, only this story and it's characters._

* * *

Chapter One - Emergence

* * *

The Schnee Quarry was a cold place to be in. Located far north of Vale past the Forever Fall, it was essentially a massive pit mine at the base of a towering mountain covered with snow, beneath the cold, grey clouds that hung low to the ground. Workers, human and Faunus alike, clambered in and out of the massive gouge in the earth and it's many tunnels, all in search of Dust. Trains and airships came and went nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with jackhammers, Dust charges, and grunting workers making a cacophony of noise that made it impossible to truly drown out the noise.

The work was hard, brutal, but the pay was good for the workers. To the ones in charge it was anything but.

As the Schnee Dust Company had owned the quarry for generations, it was both their source of power and place of punishment. Any unruly family members had long been sent to oversee its operations, sometimes staying for months at a time – the longest recorded stay was the great-grandfather to Weiss Schnee, having stayed for nearly thirty years before he finally passed away. It was truly dull, dry work, pouring over mining reports and reprimanding workers.

It was a job Fuyu Schnee took with a straight face and a determined glint in her eye.

She watched from a three story office building at the top of the mine, looking out as train cars chugged up and down ramps into the pit and Bullheads flew with massive shipping containers strapped to their bellies. Fuyu was amazed at how smoothly the entire operation moved - as one of four Dust mines the Schnee Company owned across the world, absolutely nothing could halt excavations without putting a severe strain on the company. She was literally in control of one of the company's lifelines, all from her small but lavish office, with its oak desk, plush carpet, and a comfortable couch that she used more often as a bed than anything else.

Fuyu snorted, weaving a Jacob's Ladder with a string and her fingers as she looked out over the mine. _If Father had seen how poorly the last manager had been running things, he would've killed the poor man. Let alone his idiotic foreman…_

As a woman in her mid-twenties, Fuyu Schnee had a slim body with long, slender limbs. Like her sister Weiss Schnee, she had cold, icy blue eyes that seemed to pierce the soul of whoever they looked at. However, that was where the similarities ended – while Weiss had their Father's traits, Fuyu took after her mother, who had tanned skin, brown hair, and a softer, rounder face than compared to Father, as well as the black eyepatch that hid her right eye. That said, it if wasn't for the family picture they had taken when Weiss was first born and his occasional speeches on TV, she would have long forgotten what her father looked like.

The same picture sat on her desk, and would always bring a smile to her face when it reminded her of happier days.

"It's cold outside," she muttered to herself. "I should tell the cooks to make something warm to eat for the workers… stew would be nice."

_Maybe a bonus as well, it's practically the dead of winter here._

The scroll on her desk blared, signaling a call. Fuyu frowned, turning in her chair to snatch the offending thing up and toss the loop of string aside.

"What is it?" she demanded, any trace of gentleness gone as she adopted her Schnee mask.

"_M-Ms. Schnee," _a man stuttered, the foreman of the mine._ "Th-there's been an accident down here on the lower levels, a Dust charge went off and trapped some of our workers in a separate shaft. There's no way for them to get out."_

Fuyu put the foreman on speaker and set the scroll on the desk, stretching the screen so that it covered most of its surface. As she pulled up a schematic of the mine she said tersely, "What of it? It should be common sense to mount a rescue operation, Mr. Whitman. I would advise you not to waste my time. Furthermore, what happened before the blast? Was this intentional?"

"_I-I'm not sure, Ma'am. I heard yelling before the explosion, it may have been sabotage."_

She paused. "…The White Fang?"

"…_Possibly. Even if it was, there's too many damn animals here to-"_

"I would advise you not to talk slander of our Faunus labor, Mr. Whitman," Fuyu snapped. "They comprise almost sixty percent of our forces here, it would not do for them to take extreme measures."

"_Y-yes, Ma'am."_

Fuyu sighed, and let out a long breath. "Since you are unable to use that mound of fat you call a brain, here are your orders. Quarantine the area; keep anyone from leaving or entering. I want portable struts and drill teams in there to get those men out safely in the meantime, and set up a triage area for any wounded. I will come out myself and oversee the operation. Am I understood?"

"_C-coming down here isn't necessary-"_

"Am. I. Understood?" Fuyu demanded.

"_Yes, Ma'am."_

"Good. I'm looking at the mine schematic right now, is there a secondary shaft that I'm unaware of? Some other way they can escape?"

"_N-no Ma'am."_

"Very well. Proceed with the preparations, I will be there shortly."

With that she hung up on him, not bothering to listen to any more of his babbling, and she let out a tired sigh. In that instant she let her mask slip, seeming less like a Schnee heiress and more like a tired woman with too much on her plate.

She reached over to her intercom and said, "Locke, come to my office. I need to head into the mines."

"_Got it, I'll be there."_

As she waited, Fuyu looked out over the mines once more and idly noted the thin trail of smoke coming from one of the shafts, and felt a sense of grim satisfaction when she distantly saw several of her troops corral any workers nearby. If there was a member of the White Fang, they would be found. Especially if she showed up as well. An assassination attempt would be too good to pass up.

Just then a knock sounded from her door, and Fuyu steeled her mask once more.

"Enter."

The man that came walking through the door was not someone you would expect working directly for a Schnee. He was a Faunus, a lynx to be exact, who had intense green eyes and long, tufted cat ears on top of his head. He seemed fairly ordinary otherwise, wearing jeans, leather gloves and a massive wool overcoat with a hood, a stark contrast to the brand-named white turtleneck and thick pants she wore. Strangely enough, she also wore a sash around each of her upper arms, bound tight with a thick metal clip.

"You rang?" he said dryly.

"Oh, quiet," Fuyu said with a wave of her hand. "I need you to accompany me while I go run an errand in the pit. There may be White Fang operatives, so be observant and strike if necessary. We'll need to be clever to root them out."

Locke smirked, but nodded. "Sure. Need help?"

Shaking her head, Fuyu wheeled herself and her wheelchair out from behind her desk. "That won't be necessary," she said, with a little more venom than needed.

He shrugged and stepped out of her way, allowing her to roll past him. His smirk never quite left his face, and Fuyu couldn't remember a time when he _wasn't _smirking at or about something. With her back turned, she didn't see him stick his tongue out at her before he followed with hands thrust deep in his pockets, and as they dodged an office worker carrying a load of papers Locke groaned and rubbed the tips of his cat ears.

"What is it?" Fuyu demanded, not pausing to look at him as they reached the elevator.

Locke pouted as people filed out of the steel death trap. "It's my ears, they're cold. Frostbite is a real issue for Faunus up north."

"…I see."

They didn't say another word as the people cleared away, and didn't after they stepped on and punched the button for the first floor. It was only after the elevator had started moving that Fuyu looked to Locke and thought aloud, "Should I add some sort of headwear for the Faunus? It wouldn't do for them to be injured unnecessarily."

Locke gave her a lazy grin. "Aw, look at the big, bad heiress, worrying over us common folk!"

He reached out to ruffle her hair, only to have his hand slapped away.

"_Don't. Touch. Me."_ Fuyu hissed, leveling a glare that could flash-freeze an iceberg. Her mask reasserted itself, and she was once more a Schnee heiress.

Waving his hand in mock pain, Locke gave her an odd stare as he said, "Oi, sure, sorry about that. Forgot you don't like to be touched, it was just a joke. Yeah, the Faunus here would appreciate a gesture like that, it would go a long way to tell them that not all the Schnee hate their guts. It'd improve morale."

The elevator dinged, opening to the dingy first floor lobby. Fuyu gave a sigh as she wheeled herself out and towards the front doors. "…I apologize. I have at least some amount of respect for the Faunus. I value them for their skills, which is the only rule you can judge others by here in the north. Their strength, speed, and eyesight alone make them superior to many humans… but that doesn't mean I don't hate the Faunus."

They stepped out into the cold snow, Fuyu shivering slightly as her limp legs felt the sudden chill.

"I could take offense to that… but I'll choose not to," Locke said, smirking as he shoved his hands deeper in his pockets.

Fuyu huffed. "Good."

There was a long silence that passed between then, waiting out in the cold at the dead of night. It might actually have been peaceful if it wasn't for the noise from the mine in the background and the train yard that lit up the night, practically next door to the office building. A full minute had passed before Fuyu frowned and gave Locke a suspicious look with her good eye.

"You… _did_ inform Wallace we were headed into the mine… correct?"

Locke froze, the smirk twisting into a pained grimace.

"…Shit."

…

Nearly twenty minutes later, Locke and Fuyu found themselves one hundred feet below ground at the very bottom of the Schnee Quarry. The dirt had been packed harder than stone with the many workers and droids stomping back and forth, hauling crates of dust and tools to the three buildings at the pit's center. Looking out over the operation, Fuyu idly watched a massive dump truck roll by with a load of dirt and tailings to haul back to the surface. The noise was tremendous, rattling the windows whenever a Dust charge went off in a tunnel while the machinery made a loud cacophony that would make anyone not wearing protective gear go deaf in a matter of days.

As it was, Fuyu wore a full-faced helmet that filtered out dust in the air and protected her hearing. She had also abandoned her wheelchair in the jeep that had taken them down, opting for a pair of high-tech crutches with servos that worked to keep her upright. Her wheelchair would have been too unwieldy to maneuver on the rough gravel of the pit. As for Locke, he was hefting around a large black briefcase that he slung over one shoulder.

"What's the situation, Mr. Whitman?" she asked as she wobbled up to a portly man with a thin beard, who had been waiting for her outside his office. The man lifted a blubbery arm to point at a group huddled by a tunnel entrance, fifteen in all and cowering before a robotic titan and four armed guards.

Whitman wiped sweat off his brow, nervous before Fuyu's stare as he said, "T-they're over there. We've almost got our men out, the dig team has a-almost breached the cave-in. A charge went off in the middle of the tunnel, right in a spot where no one would see it. It probably got left behind by one of the miners when they-"

Not bothering to hear any more, Fuyu grunted as she began hauling herself and her barely-working legs towards the group of workers.

"Tell me, Whitman," she began, ignoring the man's stammering, "why is it that you've commanded one of my Vanguardsmen to keep watch over a group of miners? And with a Sunshine unit, no less?"

"Well," Whitman gulped, "you see-"

"And why is it that no one's begun questioning them?"

Locke, who had been following just behind, smirked as Whitman began shaking. "Well, there's a p-perfectly good explanation for that!"

Fuyu stared at the blobulous man with a quirked eyebrow.

"Pray tell."

She ignored the man's frantic rambling as she came to the feet of the robotic titan. Nearly eight feet tall it was an impressive sight, with thick armor, limbs the size of tree trunks, and a cyclopean head that resembled a square brick with a single camera lens in the middle of its face. It was an ugly tan color, and wielded a massive shotgun with an additional rifle attached to its right shoulder. This was a Sunshine, a combat droid made exclusively by the Schnee Dust Company and capable of being remote piloted.

The titan stepped back slightly when it noticed her. _"O-oh, Commander Schnee! How can I help you?"_

With a withering glare, Fuyu stared down the titan and gave the group of miners a passing glance. "Who are you?" she demanded.

The Sunshine snapped to attention, bringing its hand up in a rough salute as he stammered, _"In-Initiate Willis Packers, Ma'am! I was instructed by the foreman to stand guard over these miners!"_

Fuyu's eyes narrowed and she jabbed a crutch into the Sunshine's knee. "Are you aware that _I_ am your commander, not this sniveling blob of a man? You answer to me and me alone, he has no authority over you."

The Sunshine began trembling, standing even straighter. Meanwhile, the foreman felt a cold sweat come over him, and knew that his life was soon to be over.

"_I'm sorry, Ma'am! It won't happen again, Ma'am! The foreman said he got your authorization, Ma'am!" _he yelled, panicking.

"…He did, did he?"

Locke smirked as Fuyu leveled a cold glare at the foreman.

"I never gave him authorization to take one of the few Vanguardsmen we have and use him as a watchdog," she growled, and ground the end of her crutch on his foot. He grunted in pain as Fuyu continued, "I told you to quarantine the area, not use this as an excuse to parade a Sunshine around! What if the White Fang had attacked, you dolt?! A fifth of our fighting force would be busy standing guard!"

The foreman gulped, shaking like a leaf. "W-well, most of these miners are Faunus, so I had to keep them in line. They kept trying to g-get away, otherwise…"

Fuyu glared at the foreman a moment longer before she sighed and looked away. "You're dismissed. Return home, your services are no longer required.'

"What?!" the foreman barked, his terror now turned to fury. "You have no right! I've been foreman since your father appointed me years ago! What gives you the right to take a job that I've had since before you were born?!"

"I have the right since I've more than tripled the production of this mine, a job that you failed to even meet a quota with. That and you're a fat, bumbling oaf. Now leave."

Fuyu turned away from the foreman, leaving him spluttering and red-faced. He gave a wordless bellow and stamped away, waddling back to his office.

After the door had slammed shut, Fuyu glanced at the Sunshine unit. "Initiate Packers, escort Mr. Whitman from the premises whenever he deigns to leave his office."

"_Yes, Ma'am,"_ the Sunshine said, snapping its hand up in a rough salute. After knocking itself in the head, Willis steered the droid to wait outside the foreman's office and even from here Fuyu could hear the man's cursing. Locke chuckled and put his hands on his hips.

"Man, you'd think that he would've seen that coming. All I ever saw him do was laze around and eat chips," he said, fiddling with his briefcase.

Fuyu gave him a suspicious frown. "What's in the briefcase?"

Locke's smirk stretched into an evil grin. "It's a surprise…"

There was a long pause.

"Whatever…" Fuyu muttered, and looked to the group of Faunus miners before her. While they weren't nearly as terrified as when the Sunshine was watching over them, they still gave her fleeting glances of equal parts fear, shock, and curiousity. They all flinched when she cleared her throat.

"I assume by now you know why you've been gathered," she stated.

A dog Faunus nodded, his yellow ears flopping around as he said, "Yeah, kinda. It's about the explosion."

Another Faunus stepped forward, a heavyset bull with broad shoulders and a pair of small horns sprouting from his hairline. "Most of us weren't even near it when it went off, we were just going off for lunch when it felt like the ground was ripping itself apart."

Fuyu nodded, mentally cataloging the information. "I see. And where were you, exactly?"

The bull Faunus scratched his head and leaned on his pristine metal shovel. "Well, me and the boys here were out here by the excavator."

At this, a wolf Faunus with sharp teeth stepped forward. "Not all of us. I saw Messiha and Daniels hanging around at the tunnel for a while."

The miners parted, exposing a pair of cat Faunus that nervously shifted where they stood. Though they were male and female the pair seemed too similar to be anything but twins, and Fuyu wobbled up to them and stared them straight into the eye. Even if her icy stare didn't faze them, it was obvious the eye patch did. Between the two, Daniels was acting the most suspicious and was shifting back and forth. Locke noticed this and stared, making the Faunus even more nervous.

"Messiha and Daniels, yes?" Fuyu asked.

The pair nodded.

"I won't waste any more time, then."

Fuyu shifted, attempting to stand taller and utterly failing because of her uncooperative legs and crutches. They still didn't escape her imposing glare as she said, "You're lucky that no one was killed, you damn traitors. Guards, arrest these two and take them to the holding cells. They'll be shipped out on the next Dust train."

Shock was all over Messiha's face. "Wait, what?! You didn't even hear us out!"

With a shrug, Fuyu looked down her nose at them and said smugly, "Why do I need to? Faunus workers are a dime a dozen and anything you say wouldn't be worth anything, White Fang scum."

While Messiha was stunned into silence, Daniels stepped forward. "Schnee bitch! At least hear what we have to-"

He grunted in pain when a guard stepped forward and rammed his elbow into Daniels' nose. Another guard grabbed him around the shoulders, keeping him from struggling. It was when a third roughly grabbed his sister by the elbow that he snapped, growling as he struggled to free himself from the guard's grip. He glared at Fuyu and bellowed, "Listen to me, you witch! We were at the tunnel entrance, but it was that damn bull who went inside!"

Fuyu smirked. Locke grinned. The bull Faunus flinched and tightened his grip on the shovel.

"When we went back to the excavator, it was _you_ that went in! No one else saw but me, you bastard!"

With a wordless grunt, the bull bashed aside Locke with the shovel and leveled it at the back of Fuyu's head, where the metal head fell off and was revealed to be a simple musket.

The bull smirked when Locke staggered to his feet and tightened his grip on the briefcase. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he grunted, pressing a button on his weapon. A bayonet shot out from the bottom of the barrel, nearly spearing Fuyu's neck.

Meanwhile, the guards had recovered and leveled their rifles at the bull.

"Daniels. Messiha."

The Faunus twins, who had retreated behind the nearby excavator, cautiously peeked.

Fuyu gave them an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry for using the pair of you, but thank you for helping me flush out the traitor."

The bull growled and jabbed the tip of the bayonet into her neck, making her gasp. "Don't forget about me. You're going to be the White Fang's bargaining chip in bringing down your father's company. You can tell your stooge to call up a Bullhead and ten cases of refined Dust, uncut, and I want it here in five minutes."

Locke smirked, standing off to the side about ten feet away as he hefted his briefcase. "Do you really think you'll get out of here alive? You've only got one bullet in that thing."

In the background, the Sunshine piloted by Packers noticed what was happening and contacted the others over an internal radio. Fuyu saw him watching out of the corner of her eye, giving him a slight nod before looking at the bull over her shoulder.

"What is it you hope to gain? Do you really think that terrorism will magically make people see the Faunus as their equal?"

The bull growled and jabbed the bayonet once more, drawing blood. "What choice do we have?! We don't have rights, we don't have labor unions or treaties! All we had were the picket lines until you _humans_ took those as well!"

With the bull focusing his fury on her, he didn't notice Locke creeping up behind him with his briefcase in hand.

"There's _nothing_ humans can do to repay us after all they've done," the bull gritted out, the bayonet threatening to plunge even deeper. "All you can do is sit back and watch as we do to you all that you've done to us!"

There was silence, the bull's words barely going beyond the group because of the noise. Even that began to die down as more and more workers noticed what was going on, slowly forming a crowd of both curious and outraged faces. At seeing so many of his brethren, the bull grinned and half-turned away from Fuyu while still keeping his weapon leveled at her back.

"Don't you see?!" he yelled. "The humans aren't as untouchable as you think they are! If you join the White Fang you can make a difference! You can make a difference for yourself and all Faunus who've been oppressed by the enemy!"

"What sort of drivel are you spouting?"

Fuyu's words could be heard by everyone in the ensuing silence the bull caused. "You hold an unarmed cripple at gunpoint, and you expect others to put their trust in the White Fang? If you feel so oppressed, then pull the damn trigger and be done with it."

She turned, stumbling slightly until she faced the bull. The muzzle was aimed directly at her heart – if the bull saw fit, either a bullet or a bayonet thrust would kill her for sure. Still, she could see the hesitation in his eyes as he gripped his weapon with both hands and glared down at her.

"W-what are you talking about?! Do you _want_ to die?!"

Locke was coiled and ready, having positioned himself directly behind the bull. At the top of the pit at its ledge stood four other Sunshine units, ready to drop in and rescue Fuyu.

_Rather unnecessary,_ she thought to herself,_ but I appreciate the effort._

"I could say the same to you," Locke said with a smug grin, directly behind the Faunus. The bull gasped and swung around, bringing the bayonet out in a swiping thrust that Locke dodged back from with a cocky laugh. This only egged the bull on, and he bellowed in fury as he lunged.

Locke batted the attack aside with his briefcase and kicked the bull in the rear as he shot past.

The bull fell to the ground, spluttering, and he scrambled back to his feet while leveling the musket at the lynx.

"You're a Faunus, why are you protecting this bitch?!" the bull shouted, hands trembling from gripping the weapon so hard.

Locke planted the briefcase on the ground and leaned on it, putting his hands on his hips. His grin grew wide as he said, "Olé!"

With a kick the briefcase fell open, promptly blowing the bull back with a Dust explosion before Locke kicked it shut again. Now that the threat had been removed the Sunshines dropped into the pit, three landing in a rough semi-circle around Fuyu, while the fourth dropped in directly behind her and scooped her up in its metal arms. Their impact made the ground shudder and threw up a cloud of dust, nearly bowling the woman over before she was caught.

"_Ma'am, it's not safe here. We need to get you out of here,"_ a woman's voice said, concerned as the heiress was cradled in the Sunshine's hands.

Fuyu shook her head. "Put me down, it will be alright. Locke can handle things."

The Sunshine hesitated, but slowly set the heiress back on the ground with a hiss and whining of hydraulics, and handed the abandoned crutches back to the young woman. The other Sunshines were dismissed and allowed to surround the ongoing battle between the two Faunus, ready and waiting to step in.

Meanwhile, Locke had kept egging on the bull and grinned as he ducked under another charge, playing with his opponent. There was no escape for the bull now – the crowd had completely surrounded the two, jeering angrily, and the arrival of the Sunshines prevented any White Fang sympathizers from joining the bull's cause. Still, none interfered with their fight, with the bull furiously stabbing and slashing at Locke only to have his attacks batted aside by the briefcase. The bull finally lunged and was knocked back when Locke slammed the side of the briefcase against his head.

The bull stumbled back, heaving for breath as he collapsed to one knee.

Locke grinned and propped his leg against his "weapon," if it could even be called that. "C'mon, give up! Sometimes you just gotta grab the bull by the horns and learn to quit, dude! Don't make me grab them for you."

At these mocking words, the bull's fury boiled over. With a wordless bellow he leveled the musket at Fuyu and pulled the trigger.

The effect was devastating. A Dust crystal had been packed in as the bullet, and it made a hellish scream fill the air when the red-hot rock shot from the barrel and streaked right for the young woman's heart. The Sunshine threw Fuyu to the side and took the blast head on, enveloped by an explosion and a metallic screech as the elemental storm ate into the Sunshine's armor and delicate circuitry. The woman's scream ripped from the machine's loudspeakers, deafening anyone too close as the fireball singed fur and hair.

Fuyu looked on in horror from where she lay on the ground. "Emergency bailout, code five-one-seven!"

The Sunshine dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, motionless and deactivated.

With a smirk, the bull paused to slip another crystal down the barrel and moved to aim it at Fuyu.

"Fat chance, cow!"

Locke growled as he leapt forward. He spun, driving his foot, fist, and finally the briefcase into the bull that made the Faunus skid back with a grunt of pain. When the bull lifted his head, his glare was intense enough to make the grin drop from Locke's face.

The bull aimed his musket to the side. "Don't mock the White Fang, you traitor!"

The shot screamed into a second Sunshine, but luckily the pilot was ejected before the Dust bullet hit. Fuyu stared at the smoldering metal titan with disbelief, watching as it crumpled uselessly to its knees and pitched forward.

"But… but your target's me, isn't it?! Why are you attacking my Vanguardsmen?!" she yelled, outraged.

The bull leapt back from Locke and grinned. "It's called warfare, sweetheart. You've gotta expect collateral damage, and if I get to take down your little robot pilots, well hey, that works for me to. It'll make it easier for the White Fang."

He lunged at Locke, making him defend. "Besides, I never intended to survive this anyway!"

Another thrust knocked the briefcase aside, and Locke's eyes widened as the bull closed in for the kill.


End file.
